The bobsled made by Ferrari for the Italian national team has been selected to help test out the new Olympic run at Pyeongchang, which will host the Winter Olympic Games in 2018. The bobsled was delivered this morning to driver Patrick Baumgartner who’ll be putting it through its paces at the Alpensia Sliding Centre in Korea between February 29 and March 9. He will be joined by brakemen Marco Rosa, Rocco Caruso and Alessandro Fierro, as well as by sporting director Roberto D’Amico.

The international federation specifically requested Fisi (the Italian Winter Sports Federation) to provide one of its teams and Baumgartner, who has just turned 21, was selected as driver. He has showed incredible prowess with the Ferrari-built bobsled, winning the gold medal at the Innsbruck 2012 Youth Olympic Games. The Italian team will be joined by athletes from Latvia and Russia.

Coni (the Italian Olympic Committee), Fisi and Ferrari have been collaborating for many years in various different sports and the Italian national team’s bobsled has been made in Maranello since the 2010 Vancouver Olympics. Development work on the version for Pyeongchang has only just begun, however. After the tests on the Olympic run, it will return to Ferrari where it will be further honed over the next 12 months. The sled will make its competition debut in the first event of the 2017/18 season, the high point of which will be the Korean Olympics, of course.